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1987 SDP - Liberal Alliance General Election Manifesto

Britain United - The Time Has Come

Foreword: Britain United

The Alliance's vision is of a Britain united, a Britain confident, compassionate and
competitive. We know that it is possible to unite our country. We know the British people want
greater unity. But we also know the task of drawing Britain together again can only be achieved
through political, economic and social reform on a scale not contemplated in our country for
over forty years.

At the last election, about a third of the nation's voters didn't even both to turn out.

It's hard to think of a more damning condemnation of politics in this country.

But it's not difficult to understand why so many people feel cynical and uninterested.

Since the last war the Tories and Labour have each had six turns at Government.

Many honourable men and women on both sides have worked hard for the nation but the system has
defeated all but a few.

Rigid dogmas, the overriding need for party unity, and indiscriminate three-line whips have all
helped to create a climate of conflict and rancour.

Listen to Parliamentary question time and count how many times the Speaker has to call for
order. We've had forty years of yah-boo politics and where has it got us?

We live in a country that is patently unfair to many of its citizens. While politicians
brandish statistics at each other on TV chat shows, we can all see with our own eyes what is
happening to our schools, hospitals and inner cities.

We know there is more crime because our own homes have been broken into, our own neighbours
have been mugged, our own children have been offered drugs.

We know that unemployment remains a huge problem because few families haven't been touched by
its shadow.

For many, the situation seems hopeless. Unable to contemplate five more years of uncaring
government under Mrs Thatcher, they still do not trust the Labour Party.

Mr Kinnock tries hard but for how long can he keep the lid on the extremists of the Left?

They already dominate some of the Town Halls When the election is over, will they emerge again
to claim the rewards of their silence?

Many of these people feel that the Alliance is the answer - but they ask what chance does it
have of changing things? The answer is - every chance.

At the last election, the Alliance won nearly 8 million votes, little less than the Labour
Party.

If just 72 more people in every 700 vote for the Alliance this time, we will be the single
largest party in Parliament. If just 5 more people in every 700 support us, we would have over
70 seats and almost certainly hold the balance of power.

Think of it. Issues would be judged on their merits. We would curb the Tories' divisive
policies and stop the destructive antics of the Labour Left.

Politicians would be forced to listen to each other and work together. The two-party, two-class
pantomime would finally be over.

It's not an impossible dream. It's closer now than at any time in our history. All you have to
do to make it happen is to vote Alliance on June 17th.

David SteelDavid Owen

Introduction

There has never been an election like this in modern times. All the evidence and all the
commentators confirm that it is a three-way contest which the Alliance enters from a position
of unprecedented strength and promise. The Official Opposition is falling apart and is now
quite unable to present itself as a realistic alternative to a Government which presides over
the worst unemployment ever known in the lifetime of those who are of working age. The
two-party system has broken down because it is rooted in outdated battles of class and
ideology, and provides no outlet for the vast numbers of people who want individual freedom to
go hand-in-hand with social justice, who want the state to back industry without trying to
take it over, who want power to be given back to communities instead of concentrated in
Whitehall and who want a nation which is soundly defended but takes the lead in the quest for
negotiated disarmament and a fairer world.

In any Government the policies which have been set out in the election programme can only tell
part of the story of how they will behave in office. It is at least as important to know and
trust the values and principles for which they stand, and which will guide their response to
the new events and new problems with which governments have to deal. These values, we believe,
are embodied in this Joint Programme. They are our guide-book for government:

Governments are there to protect and preserve the freedom of citizens, to whom
they should be accountable and open;

Freedom must extend to all the people, and Governments must therefore widen the
opportunities of those whose liberty is limited by lack of employment, education,
health care, housing or help in dealing with disability;

Governments should not try to do what can be better done by individuals, by
communities, by voluntary organisations or by private enterprise, but should set
about enabling people to help themselves; however governments should be ready to
enter into partnership with these organisations to tackle the problems that neither
it nor they can solve alone;

Decisions of Government should be taken democratically at the most local level
compatible with effective action;

Governments should learn to listen to the people to whom they are
accountable;

Governments should exercise the creative leadership to enable society as a
whole to match its needs and resources with the work to be done - of which there is
an abundance in Britain today;

Government must challenge and curb all those who threaten individual freedom by
the abuse of monopoly power, by the denial of rights or by crime and violence;

It is the business of Government to act fairly in the pursuit of a united
society, not to identify itself solely with any one section of society or region of
the country;

Government should take positive steps to ensure equal opportunities for women -
who make up 52% of the population - and for minority groups such as the ethnic
communities.

Government must enable society to take the longer view, setting the right
balance between present consumption and future investment and ensuring that
economic development is sustainable and environmentally responsible.

These values must also guide foreign policy, where the defence of the nation goes hand-in-hand
with the promotion of peace and fairness in a world marked by severe inequality and injustice.

We believe that Government at all levels can be more open, more accountable, more fair and
more in tune with the wishes of the people of this country if it is allowed to break free of
the two-party system and the old class conflict which that system feeds. Our country and its
people deserve better, and here is how we believe it can be done.

Better Government

Most of the problems facing our country cannot be solved unless we get better government. That
means government which can carry the people with it in its major policies, and it means
government which the citizens can call to account. Our system is currently failing in both
respects, and it is getting worse. Under our proposals no government will be able to ride
roughshod over the rights of its citizens.

First, we insist that the voting system should be reformed so that no minority - which is what
Mrs. Thatcher's Party was at the last election - is given an inflated Parliamentary majority.
Fewer people voted Conservative at the last election than the one before, yet the system gave
the absolute power of a massively increased majority to Mrs. Thatcher, and ensured that the
House of Commons could be little more than a talking shop. No wonder Labour leaders join with
the present Conservative leadership in wanting to keep the old system - they can see that it
offers the only hope of inflicting on the nation policies which the majority of the people
reject. The Alliance will introduce community proportional representation, using the
well-tried single transferable vote system with constituencies based on local communities.
This system also gives the voters the chance to show which candidates they prefer and would
increase the opportunities for women to be elected to Parliament, and make the election of
representatives of ethnic minorities more likely. We will reform the voting system for local
government on a similar basis, which is the real answer to the abuse of power by the Town Hall
extremists. Fairly elected local councils can and should be entrusted with important
responsibilities because they are not run as one party states. We will end the scandal whereby
England, Scotland and Wales are denied fair representation in the European Parliament; we will
introduce a new Great Reform Charter covering a range of specific legislation, all aimed at
strengthening our democracy both locally and nationally.

We will open the doors of government so that incompetence and deceit cannot be hidden behind
them. We will repeal Section Two of the Official Secrets Act and introduce a Freedom of
Information Act so that the public have access to government information to give people access
to their personal files, including medical files, held about them by public bodies and to
build on the foundation laid by the Access to Personal Files Act, which was introduced as a
private members bill by a Liberal MP. We hope to strengthen data protection laws. In areas of
government where secrecy is needed, we will introduce new safeguards including a committee
of Privy Counsellors to oversee the security services.

We do not believe that Whitehall knows best. British government has never been more centralised
than it has become under Mrs. Thatcher. In education, health and every aspect of local
government, power has been taken over by Ministers. As a result of what the Conservatives have
done, an extremist government would have far more opportunities than ever before to control
people's lives. This centralisation is inefficient as well as dangerous. How on earth can the
man or woman in Whitehall know the needs, the problems and the potential of every community
from Shetland to the Scillies? The Alliance will reverse this trend.

We will introduce a code for the public service and reassert the safeguards of ministerial
responsibility and civil service impartiality which have been severely eroded under Mrs.
Thatcher's Government as the handling of the Westland affair showed.

We will devolve power to the nations and regions of Britain. We aim to establish an elected
Scottish Parliament, Welsh Senedd and elected regional assemblies throughout England. Public
support is essential for progress to be made within the framework of an initial Devolution Act.
The devolved structure will require a step-by-step process starting with establishing a
Scottish Legislative Assembly with wide powers and self-government in her domestic affairs.
This would be created within an overall framework in a devolution bill which sets out the
objectives and principles for devolution of powers within the UK. Wales already has a well
established, but unaccountable, layer of devolved administration; we therefore aim to create a
Welsh Senedd and would publish an early Green Paper on its powers and responsibilities. The
abolition of the Greater London Council and the six metropolitan county councils has created a
vacuum. London is now the only major capital city in the democratic world without a
democratically elected local authority. Greater London is of sufficient size and importance
to be a region in itself and there is already widespread support for such a regional assembly,
which should be established as soon as possible. We shall publish an early Green Paper with
proposals for an elected Greater London regional assembly and setting out the proposals, as the
need and demand is established, for the creation of democratically elected regional governments
in England.

Local government needs a fair system of local finance which the rates no longer provide. The
Government's alternative of a poll tax is unacceptable because it is grossly unfair: it does
not relate taxation to the ability to pay. We are committed to the planned introduction of a
local income tax as the main source of local government revenue in place of domestic rates. We
believe that business rates should be related to ability to pay and we will consult with
industry and commerce as to how this can be achieved.

Parliament itself needs a shake-up. A fair electoral system will have that effect but even
under the present system many existing Parliamentary practices will not survive for long after
this election, because three major political forces will be strongly represented. It will no
longer be possible for two political parties to run the House of Commons to suit their own
convenience. We intend to put the control of parliamentary time in the hands of an All-Party
Business Committee and to make much more use of select committees: we want widely-supported
private members bills to have sufficient time to be debated and decided upon. In recent years
the House of Lords has proved the value of a second chamber by its careful scrutiny of bills
which got little attention in the Commons and by its willingness to defeat the government on
issues of national concern. But there can be no justification for basing the membership of the
second chamber so largely on heredity and on the whim of Prime Ministers. The Alliance will
work towards a reform of the second chamber linked with our devolution proposals so that it
will include members elected from the regions and nations of Britain and will phase out the
rights of hereditary peers to vote in the Lords.

We will greatly strengthen the rights of the individual. British Governments have sought to
lull citizens into a false sense of security by claiming that our rights are protected by an
unwritten constitution. Hundreds of British people find out every year that these protections
are inadequate and they have to go to Strasbourg to seek protection from the European
Convention on Human Rights. We will enact the European Convention into British law, so that
the citizen can secure redress in the British courts.

We will establish a Human Rights Commission, which will take over the work of the Equal
Opportunities and Racial Equality Commissions, and counter all discrimination on grounds of
race, sex, creed, class, disability or sexual orientation. The Commission would be able to
initiate action in the courts.

We will open up opportunities for women at work and in public life. Today, fewer than one in
five of Government appointees on public bodies are women. We will secure equal representation
of women on all appointed public bodies within a decade; our social and tax policies aim to
give women equal rights and freedom to choose their way of life.

The Alliance accepts the need for immigration controls and for clear legal definition of
British nationality, but also accepts that the law in this area is fundamental to individual
rights and should be fair to everyone regardless of race and regardless of whether they are men
or women. There should be effective rights of appeal against refusal of citizenship and
referral to an independent body in cases of deportation, and immigration procedures should be
revised so as to promote family unity without significantly affecting immigration totals, which
remain lower than rates of emigration from Britain.

We will combat discrimination against black people in housing and employment and take positive
steps through such measures as contract compliance to secure equal opportunities for racial
minorities, and we will devote more police resources to dealing with racial harassment.

We will combat prejudice against and misunderstanding of people with disabilities, to improve
their quality of life, and to extend educational opportunities for disabled young people.

We will restore the principle that anyone born in Britain is entitled to British citizenship.
We are adamantly opposed to discrimination and we will repeal the sexist and racist aspects of
the British Nationality Act 1981.

The Great Reform Charter

Democracy in Britain did not just happen. It was the product of reform - reform against vested
interests of both left and right. In 1832 Britain took the first step with the Great Reform
Act. Further instalments of reform followed in 1867, 1884, 1918 and 1928 before all men and
women had gained the vote. Yet, since then, our democracy has stood still despite the
tremendous changes in the economy and society. The Alliance believes that it is time for a new
era of reform. For, without getting the structure of our democracy right, we will get nothing
right.

The Alliance, if empowered by the British people, will:

Replace the undemocratic 'first past the post' electoral system with
proportional representation based on a single transferable vote for all Westminster
and local authority elections;

Introduce PR for elections to the European Parliament. We support a common
system for all member states;

Repeal the Official Secrets Act and replace it with Freedom of Information
legislation providing for a public right of access to all official information,
subject to limited and specific exemptions to protect national security and proper
law enforcement and privacy;

Reform the law of confidentiality to ensure that freedom of expression on
matters of public interest is not unnecessarily restricted;

Incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights and its protocols into
British law in a Bill of Rights;

Remove the right of the Prime Minister to determine the date of general
elections and replace it with fixed-term parliaments;

Devolve power to a legislative Scottish Assembly, establish a Welsh Senedd and
decentralise decision-making to the English regions in accordance with the wishes
of their electors;

Extensively reform Whitehall procedures in order to make the governmental
system more responsive to the wishes and needs of the people;

Reform the House of Commons procedures;

Reform the House of Lords.

Opportunities for Women

The Alliance is committed to the principle that women should have equal opportunities and in
government we will take positive steps to ensure this ideal becomes a reality.

We will open up opportunities for women in public life by securing equal representation of
women on all appointed bodies within a decade.

We will strengthen the rights of women at work through equal pay for work of equal value, equal
treatment, ensuring that all public authorities and private contractors are equal opportunity
employers. We will restore the maternity grant and improve benefits for families.

We will offer a tax allowance to help with the costs of childcare and remove the tax on the use
of workplace nurseries.

We will ensure that girls and women have equal opportunities in education and training.

We will promote measures that give employees with family responsibilities rights to parental
and family leave.

The Alliance wants to see more women in Westminster. Changing the electoral system to a form of
proportional representation will increase the opportunities for women to be elected to
Parliament.

Northern Ireland

We intend to secure progress towards a peaceful and secure life for the people of Northern
Ireland. That depends on the acceptance of three fundamental principles:

Rejection of violence;

Recognition that both Unionist and Nationalist traditions have their
legitimate place;

Acceptance that Northern Ireland should not cease to be a part of the UK unless
a majority of the people of Northern Ireland so wish.

The government of Northern Ireland must be based on a partnership between the two traditions.
The Alliance welcomes the Anglo-Irish agreement as a genuine attempt to achieve the objectives
we set out. We wish to see a UK/Irish Parliamentary Council, and a devolved assembly where
responsibilities and power will be shared. We would improve arrangements far considering
Northern Ireland legislation at Westminster.

Our commitment to incorporate the European Convention on Human Rights into UK law will
strengthen individual rights in Northern Ireland and we would reform the Diplock courts so that
three judges preside over non-jury trials; in this and other respects we believe that the
passing of identical anti-terrorist measures in Northern Ireland and the Republic can increase
the authority those measures carry in a divided community. We also support the establishment
of a joint security commission.

We would encourage the participation of people from the minority tradition in the RUC and
believe that a totally independent police complaints procedure should be established. We would
introduce the 110-day limit on the time in which a prisoner may be held in custody before
appearing in court, as we propose for England and Wales.

We would encourage those who are working for reconciliation in Northern Ireland and who are
seeking to eliminate sectarianism and discrimination in religious life, education, housing and
politics.

We believe that the membership of the EEC offers not only practical help to Northern Ireland,
but also prospects for the long-term development of a confederal relationship between UK and
the Republic of Ireland which could offer a solution to a problem which has claimed over 2,500
lives in the last 18 years.
Fighting Crime

Crime rates have soared in this Government's last eight years. Overall, crime is up by over
60%, burglaries have almost doubled, while robberies have increased two and a half times over.
People, particularly elderly people, live in fear in their homes and in the streets and women
feel increasingly unable to go out at night.

Detection rates have dropped from over two-fifths in 1979 to under a third in 1986. Increases
in police numbers have been largely offset by special duties like policing strikes and
demonstrations, and by a drop in the working week. There are few extra bobbies on the beat.

The Alliance would tackle both crime and the causes of crime. Some Labour-controlled boroughs
refuse to co-operate with the police in combating crime. The Conservative Government refuses
to recognise that homelessness, unemployment and aimless bed-and-breakfast regimes are
breeding-grounds of delinquency. Both are wrong.

The Police

The Alliance firmly supports the police in the battle against crime; that light can only be
effective if the police get the support of the whole community, through community policing and
policemen on the beat. Many police forces are still under strength: yet more officers are
needed to provide the kind of local policing which we believe is essential. An Alliance
Government will finance a further 4,000 police officers over and above the present Government
plans and 1,000 more civilians, so releasing police officers for patrol duties.

Proportional representation for local government would stop unrepresentative extremists from
controlling police authorities. It would mean more sensible police authorities and make
possible a democratically accountable police authority for London. We oppose the police
monitoring units by which some Labour councils attempt to undermine the police. The Alliance
fully accepts the need for chief officers to have full operational control of their force. The
Alliance supports a fully independent system for investigating complaints against the police.
We reject moves towards a national police force. We would appoint a Royal Commission to review
the question of police accountability.

Upholding the Law

We will create a new Ministry of Justice. Its responsibilities will include the strengthening
of the rights of the citizen to legal aid and advice and improving court and tribunal
procedures. We will establish a family court system and set up a new legal services council.

Sentencing Policy. Sentencing is often seen as arbitrary, with the same crime attracting widely
divergent punishments. For the criminals, sentences become more of a lottery than a deterring
force. We will strengthen the role of the Judicial Studies Board in setting guidelines for
sentencing. This will mean that any judge stepping outside the Board's recommendations would be
asked to explain the reason and any special circumstances. This would maintain a judge's
flexibility, while keeping sentencing broadly consistent. It would also limit the
ever-increasing upward trend in sentencing.

A Royal Commission on the Presentation of Violence in the Media. We will establish a Royal
Commission to report within a year on the public presentation of violence on TV and the
reporting of crime in newspapers, to make recommendations on the possible link between these
and violent crime on the streets.

Crime Prevention Units. There would be a duty on all local authorities to establish Crime
Prevention Units, and to work closely with the police to help in setting up Neighbourhood Watch
schemes. They would advise on security in all new planning and building.

Insuring Against Crime. We aim to make insurance available to all council tenants, who are
twice as likely to be burgled as home owners and far less likely to be insured.

Curbing the Sale of Offensive Weapons. We will curb the sale of knuckle dusters, battle knives,
spiked shoe straps, cross-bows and catapults.

Lifeline

Too many elderly people suffer from isolation, fear and cold.

We intend to give them the safety, security and warmth they deserve. Britain has 6 million
people aged 70 or over. For them our "Lifeline" programme will:

include free installation of a telephone;

protect them against the criminal by free installation of secure locks:

cut their heating bills by free home insulation;

abolish standing charges on electricity. gas and telephones;

These 6 million people live in 4.5 million households and this will cost £180 million.
"Lifeline" will build on present schemes and will also be part of our long-term job
guarantee.

Crime Crisis Areas

An Alliance Government will target "Crime Crisis Areas", those with the highest
rates of crime, for special anti-crime measures. Chief Constables, in consultation with
Community/Police Liaison Committees and police authorities, would define these areas. They will
have:

More police on the streets;

Local police stations re-opened. Police Posts should be established where no
station is close by;

Security grants to pay for entry phones and security locks;

Projects to make crime danger spots safe and to provide effective street
lighting and more caretakers on estates;

New housing estates designed to minimise opportunities for crime, and hazardous
public areas will be redesigned;

A legal obligation imposed on British Telecom to keep all public telephones in
constant repair. In London up to half our public telephones are broken at any one
time - many of them the only lifeline in high crime areas.

Dealing with offenders

The Prison Scandal

The prisons are bursting at the seams, yet Home Office projections show numbers increasing
until the end of the decade 1985-1995. Of the 13,000 increase, 5,000 people will be untried and
unsentenced.

The Alliance believes drastic action is needed to reduce the prison population, while ensuring
that those responsible for violent and serious crime are kept out of society for as long as the
Courts think necessary. Imprisonment rarely rehabilitates the prisoner. Three-fifths of all
men who receive a prison sentence re-offend within two years of being released.

The minimum standards for prisons proposed by NACRO, and accepted in principle by the then Home
Secretary as long ago as 1981, should be adopted as a target to be achieved within two years.

A limit of 110 days should be laid down as soon as possible for remand prisoners. If not
prosecuted within that period, they would be released. This system operates successfully in
Scotland.

Probation authorities should be required to provide bail hostels adequate to accommodate their
own needs. The Home Office should make a special 100% grant for the purpose.

The 'short, sharp, shock' has failed. As the Magistrate's Association has recommended there
should be a single youth custody sentence. Detention centres, already under-used by the Courts,
should be abolished, and the accommodation released to be used for remand centres.

Alternatives to Prison

Every effort should be made to ensure that fine defaulters, elderly shoplifters and drunks are
not sent to prison.

Police cautions and intermediate treatment should be more widely used. Where punishment is
appropriate, it should normally be community service rather than prison; but many of these
offenders are more appropriately dealt with by rehabilitation or medical treatment.

The probation service must be expanded to enable bail and non custodial sentences to be
supervised where necessary under appropriate supervision.

The Home Office should consider extending the period of automatic remission for less serious
offences.

We strongly support victim support schemes.

Offenders should recompense their victims, either directly or indirectly. Community service
orders oblige offenders to undertake work for the community. They should be more widely used.

These changes should ease the frustration that threatens to erupt in the prisons, and enable
prison officers to do the professional job they want to do. We welcome 'Fresh Start', which
proposes shorter hours and less reliance on overtime, but recognise that unless overcrowding
is tackled, this reform may not work.

Building the Future

A generation ago, Britain was among Europe's richest countries. Today Britain is falling down
the league of industrialised nations. Real income per head is well below that of Sweden,
Germany or France. Our manufacturing trade has gone into the red. In every year since 1983 we
have imported more goods than we exported, the first time that has happened since the
Industrial Revolution.

Worst of all is unemployment. Many more than the three million people registered as unemployed
have no jobs. The Government has juggled the figures and brought in cosmetic devices to hide
the truth. But the facts won't go away. The dole queue is three times what it was in 1979.
Unemployment has been a low priority for this Government, used to keep down inflation. Tax
cuts have had a higher priority than job creation. The cost in human misery and hardship, loss
of confidence and self-respect, not least among young people. has been incalculable.

Britain, like other industrial countries, has to cross the gulf between the first industrial
revolution, based on steel, engineering and railways, and the second, based on the sunrise
technologies of micro-electronics, bio-technology and new materials. To cross that gulf
demands investment in new buildings, plant and machinery, and above all n the research and
development on which new products and new processes are based. Yet under Mrs. Thatcher's
Government, investment in manufacturing industry and in R & D has fallen substantially. We
must give a much higher priority to training and education. There has been a huge decline in
apprenticeships and skill training in Britain in the last eight years, although the new
technologies demand much higher qualifications and regular updating of knowledge.

The Government has failed to use the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity North Sea oil gave us to
invest in our industry and in our people. High interest rates have crippled businesses of all
sizes; sudden ups and downs in the sterling exchange rate have handicapped exports. Even the
proceeds from selling-off state assets - our assets - have gone into cutting taxes to buy
votes.

These are our objectives:

to reduce unemployment, first amongst those unemployed for a year or more, and
amongst young people; in three years we will reduce unemployment by one
million;

to bridge the gap between the older industrial areas and the areas of
prosperity. The older industrial areas have lost a million jobs. We would encourage
regional development agencies and local employment initiatives to harness the
energy and enthusiasm of the local people in these hard-hit areas. The South-East
would benefit too, for house prices are now snaring far beyond the ability of most
families to pay, and attractive countryside is besieged by developers;

to build a new partnership between business and government, to re-equip our
factories, tackle the blight of our inner cities, and draw up a strategy for a
competitive and successful industry;

to abolish class division in the workplace by encouraging a single status for
white collar and blue collar workers, and creating opportunities for all employees
to share in the profits, decisions and ownership of firms;

to strengthen the rights of women at work including equal pay for work of
equal value and equal treatment. We will ensure that all public authorities and
private contractors are equal opportunity employers and we will promote changes to
enable those with domestic responsibilities to secure access to employment. We
would restore maternity grants and give a tax allowance to help with child-care
costs. We would remove the tax on the use of workplace nurseries and encourage
wider provision of child-care facilities.

Unemployment

Unemployment at present levels is not the inevitable result of new technology or world
recession - Japan has only 2.5% unemployment and US unemployment has fallen by two million
since 1983. It can be reduced in Britain. The key is to ensure that in creating new jobs the
nation does not embark on another round of severe inflation which will damage competitiveness
and cost us jobs in the long run. Labour ignores this danger and the Conservatives use it as
an excuse for allowing unemployment to remain high. The Alliance is prepared to take the
difficult steps necessary to create jobs and control inflation at the same time.

Therefore we will expand the economy by targeting resources to increase output and exports
rather than consumption and imports. New capital investment building up to £1.5 billion
per annum will support the framework of services on which industry and society depend, like
transport, homes, schools, hospitals and drainage. We will give more spending power to the
poorest people in our society, which will itself generate more economic activity with much
less impact on imports than general cuts in income tax;

We will control inflation by winning the support of the British people for our incomes
strategy; as a back-up we will legislate for reserve powers for a counter-inflation tax on
companies under which inflationary increases would be unattractive because they would go in
extra tax: profit-sharing would be exempted. We would introduce fairer arrangements for public
sector pay, with an independent pay and information board whose findings would inform and
assist negotiations, arbitration procedures and incentives to negotiate no-strike agreements
in essential services;

We will join the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System, enabling us to make
our currency more stable and to reduce current interest rates by as much as 2%. We would also
seek to develop the role of the EMS within the world economy.

For the long-term unemployed we will provide a guarantee of a job through:

a) a building and investment programme aimed at providing 200,000 jobs in such
essential areas as transport, housing, insulation, urban renewal and new
technologies;

b) a new recruitment incentive to encourage companies to take on over 270,000
jobless people;

c) a crash programme of education and training, offering new skills to the
unskilled unemployed, with 200,000 places;

d) 60,000 extra jobs in the health and social services to improve care in the
community and more jobs in nursery education;

e) an expanded job release scheme, opening up 30,000 jobs by allowing men to
benefit from the scheme at 62 years of age.

Rebuilding British Industry

Manufacturing and services go hand in hand, but only a quarter of services are tradable and
two thirds of our exports depend on manufacturing. Britain cannot survive on a basis of
low-tech service jobs. Nor can business flourish without a thriving industry to buy their
products. Manufacturing industry is the driving force at the core of our economy. Its decline
must be reversed.

Therefore:

We will introduce Industrial Investment Bonds to attract investors into
industry, a new industrial credit scheme to provide medium-term finance for
manufacturing companies and a tax allowance for investment in new technologies;

We will work in partnership with industry and put industry first. There will
be a new Cabinet Industrial Policy Committee responsible for overseeing the
development and implementation, in co-operation with industry, of a broad
industrial strategy with long-term priorities;

We will encourage employers to take on more staff by a 25% cut in their
National Insurance Contribution payments targeted on assisted areas and areas of
high unemployment;

We will introduce a training incentive with rebates for companies who spend
more money on training and contributions from those who do not provide it
themselves; our new Department of Education and Training will monitor standards
and turn youth training into a fully comprehensive, high quality vocational and
educational programme for 16-19 years old;

We will increase the lamentably low funding of civil research and development,
placing emphasis both on commercial exploitation of new technology using the
British Technology Group, and on boosting basic scientific research; we would give
greater support to European Community joint research programmes;

We will give more backing to exports using the Export Credit Guarantee
Department and the Aid and Trade Provision (funded from the DTI) more effectively
than the present Government has done in recent years because of its ambivalent
attitude towards public sector support. We will press the European Community to
take stern action against dumping. We will launch a more determined attack on
unfair restrictions on our trade, including those imposed by Japan on a wide range
of products and services and by the US on our high-technology exports;

We will insist on a strong competition policy to promote efficiency and give
consumers a fair deal: the Office of Fair Trading will be strengthened and will
take on the responsibilities of the Monopolies and Mergers Commission and
companies seeking mergers will have to justify them; individuals and institutions
will have power to seek redress in court against anti-competitive practices;

We will continue to judge whether industries should be in the public or
private sector on objective criteria related to competition and efficiency. We
opposed the privatisation of British Gas and British Telecom although we would not
reverse it but instead concentrate on improving consumer choice and protection.
We supported the privatisation of Rolls Royce. We would not privatise water
authorities and the Central Electricity Generating Board on grounds of public
policy relating to safety standards and care for the environment. We welcome the
fact that British Steel is now operating profitably. We believe it should be
retained as a single entity to withstand international competition and should be
considered for privatisation providing its success can be maintained;

We will work with the people of the hard-hit regions to stimulate new economic
activity and new prospects for jobs through regional development agencies. We will
encourage the setting up of a local venture capital funds to finance new
enterprise. We do not believe that government always knows best, so we will
support local initiatives through appropriate fiscal and financial means.

Backing Small Business

We will build a partnership between government, entrepreneurs and investors to encourage new
businesses and create new jobs. We will especially encourage small businesses, which will be a
major motor of growth and employment in the 1990s.

We will reduce the tax and administrative burdens on small businesses.

We will promote the establishment of Small Firms Investment Companies to provide equity and
loan finance.

We will introduce a Bill to enable business to charge interest on overdue payment of bills, if
they so wish.

We will ensure that there are business start-up schemes and expansion schemes specifically
geared to encouraging enterprise by women.

We will ensure small businesses get their fair share of public contracts from both central and
local government.

We will encourage local public/private initiatives, such as the Enterprise Agencies, which we
identified in our Worksearch Campaign.

Industrial Investment Bonds

We will introduce Industrial Investment Bonds to liberate many new and small businesses from
the high cost of borrowing start-up capital.

These bonds will help bridge the gap between the new businessman who needs access to low-cost
funds and the investor, including individuals, who would like to back him or her provided the
balance between risk and reward is reasonable. We will accordingly allow new and growing
companies to raise funds through the issue of Industrial Investment Bonds which will pay
interest free of tax to investors.

A similar scheme is already providing a valuable kick-start for many new companies in the
United States. Together with the Business Expansion Scheme, our Industrial Investment Bonds
will give the next generation of businesses the most favourable climate ever to build up
employment for the community and profits for themselves and their investors.

We Will Promote Partnership

For too long the industrial sector has been a battleground between opposing forces of capital
and labour, instead of a mutually beneficial and equal partnership.

We will legislate for employee participation but believe that flexibility must be allowed in
working out the detail for employee councils at the place of work. These councils should have
the information and the rights to enable them to contribute to strategic decisions; opportunity
must be provided for participation at top level - for example by employee directors or a
representative or supervisory council, or by directors elected by shareholders and employees
jointly.

We will encourage other forms of industrial participation, including co-operatives in which it
is workers who hire capital and management skill; we will establish an Industrial Partnership
Agency incorporating the Co-operative Development Agency to take a lead in this field.

We will strengthen the law in relation to Directors' statutory obligation to have regard to the
interests of their employees as well as their shareholders; this should include a requirement
to consult employees before making a recommendation in response to any take-over bids.

We will extend incentives to employees' share-ownership and profit-sharing which were
introduced at Liberal insistence in 1987.

We will encourage wider share ownership by a scheme which gives more people a direct tax
incentive to become small investors;

We have long been committed to trade union reform aimed at giving unions back to their members
and we have taken the lead n promoting the extension of postal ballots and internal elections
and have vigorously opposed pre-entry closed shops. Trades unions are an essential element in
the protection of the employees' interests, which is why we would return union recognition to
GCHQ members. Our central aim is to make unions democratic and accountable and therefore
entitled to positive rights including the right to recognition and the right to strike balanced
by the acceptance of their responsibilities to their members, their industries and to the
wider community.

To reduce industrial conflict we support a system of referring disputes to independent
arbitration prior to any industrial action. We will also encourage the establishment of freely
negotiated strike-free agreements especially in the provision of essential public services.

We will take action through equal opportunity and contract compliance policies to eliminate
discrimination against ethnic minorities and women.

We will actively promote measures that give employees with family responsibilities minimum
rights to parental and family leave.

Agriculture

The Alliance will promote a healthy farming industry. We must arrest the precipitous decline
in farm incomes of recent years. Our policies for aligning supply and demand of agricultural
produce are designed to secure fair returns for farmers' efforts. Adequate price and income
support is required to enable necessary farming adjustments to be made.

We will join the exchange rate mechanism of the European Monetary System to lower interest
rates, promote financial stability and prevent unfair discrimination against British farmers
through over-valuation of the green pound.

The Alliance will work to reform the CAP; the policy has achieved secure food supplies but has
gone on unchecked to produce wasteful and hugely expensive surpluses. Many farmers who
borrowed heavily on inflated land prices to meet production demands are now threatened with
bankruptcy. The Alliance will secure the income of British family farms by negotiating
adequate guaranteed prices for determined quantities of production, with additional quantities
disposed at much lower floor intervention prices: a two-tier pricing system. An eligible
tonnage for each member-state will be agreed to take into account the differing farm
structures in the Community.

We will seek a fairer share of milk quota for British producers and the retention of the right
to quota transfer and leasing. Transfer of quotas through an agency would create a pool of
quota to be administered by the Milk Marketing Board and would help small family farms.

We are committed to supporting the less favoured areas, and ensuring that the upland beef and
sheep industries are safeguarded through differential premia and retention of the sheepmeat
regime.

We shall increase Government support for effective marketing schemes for farm produce at home
and abroad. Farm-based processing and marketing co-operatives will be assisted to retain more
of the selling price of foodstuffs in rural communities.

We will encourage conservation, the reduced use of chemical inputs, organic farming and less
intensive methods of livestock production. The Government's cuts in agricultural research,
education and advice will be reversed. Special efforts will be devoted to lowering input
costs. The Alliance will sponsor partnership between Government and industry to promote both
research into new uses for farm produce which will help to sustain incomes and into the
improvement of animal welfare.

We will encourage farmers to diversify taking account of the needs of tenant farmers and other
small family farms. We will make annual payments for the upkeep of important amenities such as
walls, hedges, footpaths and meadows. We will provide further support for the custodianship of
areas of environmental importance, and the encouragement of mixed forestry on the farm with
establishment grants and annual payments for growers. We will propose clear guidelines for
land use to assist diversification and to protect the countryside.

The Alliance rejects proposals to rate farm land or buildings. We also reject the Government's
proposals for a poll tax which will apply to farmers and farm workers and, unlike Alliance
proposals for local government income tax, is not based on the ability to pay.

The Alliance wishes to support new entrants to the farming industry, and therefore proposes
the retention of County Council smallholdings and the promotion of tax incentives to encourage
landlords to let more land.

We would promote local rural employment, including farm-based tourism, through properly funded
rural development agencies and by means of a credit scheme which would provide working capital
at low rates of interest to agricultural and rural industries.

We will also encourage the establishment of a Credit Union (or Farm Bank) designed to help
farmers secure finance at fair and reasonable rates.

Fishing

The Alliance in government will act to strengthen the contribution the fishing industry can
make to the livelihood of rural communities.

After many years of turmoil from the loss of traditional distant water fishing grounds and the
protracted negotiations for a fair Common Fishing Policy, what British fishermen now need
above all is stability to plan and invest for the future. We will:

Improve the conservation of fish stocks by the use of licensing and technical
means that will safeguard stocks and decentralise the administration of
quantitative controls so as to give fishermen greater responsibility for the
management of necessary conservation measures with the flexibility to recognise
regional differences.

Strengthen the European Community Inspectorate so as to achieve fair
enforcement by all member-states.

We will support better vocational training, fish processing and marketing and
export promotion under the co-ordination of the Seafish Industry Authority.

We would not impose light dues on fishing vessels.

The Alliance believes that these policies will help to secure jobs, greater prosperity,
greater fairness, and a sense of pride in the industries upon which our future depends.

Health and Community Care

The National Health Service is in a state of fundamental crisis and malaise. It is suffering
shortages and declining standards. Our people are seeing their services cut, their waiting
lists lengthened, and more and more needs going unmet. Unless a Government is elected again
which is committed to the ideas and ideals of a National Health Service, one of the great
achievements of 20th century civilised society could be in irreversible decline.

We will back the National Health Service by increasing its budget so that by year five it will
be £1 billion per annum higher than that planned by the Conservatives. Our Health Service
was once the envy of the world: now the strains under which it is working are well known, and
we are losing some of the best health professionals who can no longer do the job they were
trained to do because of inadequate resources. We aim to restore a sense of pride in the
Health Service and to give it a new sense of direction. Our priorities for change are:

to provide prompt medical treatment for those who need it, regardless of who
they are or where they live. There are huge inequalities between and within
regions of the country in availability of hospital treatment and family doctor
services. We would set aside special funds - building on the recently introduced
funds to cut waiting lists - to back good practice. The Conservative Government
has increased prescription charges by 240% over the last eight years which is much
higher than inflation. We will not increase prescription charges beyond the
inflation rate;

to promote good health, not merely to treat illness. This means targeting
resources in health education, promoting healthy eating, tightening up food
labelling and facing up to the problems presented by smoking and alcohol abuse. We
will ban advertising of tobacco products. Our policies to deal with unemployment,
poverty and poor housing are crucial in reducing ill-health The primary health care
team working with family doctors must be built up and their preventive work
expanded. There should be more screening, including well-women clinics, with
efficient follow-up for known risk groups;

to create a new innovation fund, to tackle inequalities in health care,
improve the "cinderella services", and to fund new developments and new
priorities in health care; this will have an initial life of five years, with a
budget which will total £250 million in the first three years. This will be
in addition to money spent on creating new jobs caring in the community;

to make "care in the community" a reality. We are not prepared to
see patients turned out of the old institutional hospitals without adequate
facilities to care for them in the community. We want to support
"carers" who look after elderly and handicapped people in their own
families and their own homes. We intend to introduce a carers' benefit, and we
want carers to have more opportunities for a break from their responsibilities.

However, we recognise that for some people good institutional care remains the best solution;

to strengthen patients' rights, through statutory access for the individual to
his or her own medical files, through more opportunities for patients to
participate in decisions and through stronger community health councils;

to give real independence to the Health Education Authority;

to restructure the nursing profession along the lines proposed in Project
2000.

In the longer term we want to see health authorities brought under democratic control at local
level, but the NHS has suffered so many bouts of reorganisation under successive governments
that for the moment the priority must be to let those running the service get on with the job.

We would remove the centralising pressure to make all authorities do things in the same way,
and we would leave authorities with more freedom to decide, for example, whether privatisation
of services was likely to improve patient care or not; we would give these authorities more
direct control over their budgets.

We uphold the right of individuals to use their own resources to obtain private medical care,
but we will not allow private medicine to exploit the NHS by using facilities at subsidised
cost and we will work to end the delays which give rise to "queue-jumping" through
private medicine.

Right to Treatment

No client of the NHS should have to wait longer than six months for hospital treatment. No-one
should be kept waiting for years in pain, with unnecessary crippling disabilities for lack of a
hospital bed. Patients should have the right to treatment in other authorities where there is
spare capacity.

The Alliance will work to ensure that every patient receives hospital treatment for routine
operations within six months of referral by a GP. The backlog of people waiting is now of
crisis proportions. We estimate it will take two years to reduce the maximum waiting time to
one year. We aim to reduce this to within six months during our first term of office.

To end long waiting lists District Health Authorities and Health Boards will be empowered to:

Buy and sell hospital treatment from each other to obtain the best and
quickest service;

Buy services from other Districts with surpluses. Selling services between
DHAs would be a new incentive for good management practice rather than penalise
success;

Pay travelling costs for patients who cannot afford transport out of their
districts;

Appoint more hospital doctors and negotiate with consultants so that they give
priority to their NHS waiting lists rather than on private practice;

Ensure an increased number of places in local hospitals for convalescence and
community care to release beds for acute treatment.

GPs will need to have full computerised information on waiting lists when they make their
first referrals. There are already substantial funds within the NHS for computerisation and
the Alliance will ensure all GPs can be linked to hospitals nation-wide.

In consultation with the medical profession, we will draw up and regularly review a list of
routine operations such as hip replacement for which all patients should expect treatment
within our six month target.

In consultation with District Health Authorities, we will agree allocations of extra resources,
taking into account the numbers of patients from outside their area that Districts are already
treating.

The Vital Role of the Voluntary Sector

In health and in many other fields of service the work of volunteers and voluntary
organisations is vital: the Alliance sees no benefit in state monopoly, and welcomes the
dedication, innovation and diversity which the voluntary sector can bring. We want a more
stable framework for the voluntary organisations making them less dependent on short-term
funding which can be misused by local councils and government departments as a means of
exerting political control in the voluntary sector. We will:

Expand opportunities for individual voluntary effort, giving young people, for
example, the chance to volunteer full-time for a year without losing their social
security entitlements and by linking existing voluntary groups with new
initiatives;

Ensure that experience gained by volunteers is given proper accreditation to
enable those without traditional qualifications to gain access to further and
higher education;

Ensure adequate public core funding to enable voluntary organisations to take
full advantage of tax concessions on payroll giving and individual donors;

Support services which advise voluntary organisations on how to develop their
management skills and structures to ensure staff development and better service
delivery;

Support and help to widen the network of Citizens Advice Bureaux, Law Centres
and other legal advice services.

Ending Poverty

We can and will relieve many thousands of people from the burden of poverty.

Poverty in Britain is getting worse. The Conservatives' taxation and benefit policies have
redistributed income from the poor to the rich, from people with dependent children to single
people and childless couples, and from one group of the poor to another group of the poor.
This is unjust and unacceptable. The Alliance will tackle poverty by targeting much higher
benefits to those with the lowest incomes in relation to their needs. We will help families
with children. We will improve benefits for the disabled and those caring for elderly and
disabled relatives at home.

Our proposals fall into two parts:

First, we will, over the first two years, improve the incomes of
pensioners, families with children, the unemployed, disabled and carers. These
improvements will be paid for in part from increasing public expenditure by a net
£1.75 billion by the second year. The remainder will be paid for from
increased tax revenues and from changes which will make the tax system fairer.

The second phase of our proposals will be a restructuring of the tax and
benefits systems to create one integrated system which will be simpler and
fairer.

The Immediate Package

Pensioners

We intend to concentrate the bulk of extra spending on helping poorer pensioners with incomes
on and just above the state retirement pension. We will increase the basic state retirement
pension by £2.30 a week for a single person and £3.65 for a married couple. This
will include the forecast update of the pension in 1988. For poorer pensioners we will
introduce an additional benefit of £3.70 a week for single people and £5.75 for
couples. This will increase the incomes of poorer pensioners in total by £6 per week
(single person) and £9.40 per week (couple).

We will introduce a Death Grant of £400, recoverable from the estate of the deceased,
specifically designed to help pensioners with a small amount of savings feel confident that
most of their, or their spouse's, funeral costs will be covered by the Grant;

We will require standing charges for gas, electricity and telephones to be abolished for
everyone.

The £10 Christmas bonus has became hopelessly inadequate to meet the extra spending
pensioners and widows face at Christmas.

We will increase the bonus by paying a double pension in the first week of December. A single
person will receive £39.50 and a married couple £63.25. The net cost will be
£268 million.

Child Benefit

We will increase child benefit by £1 per child a week in the first year and by a further
£1 per child a week in the second year.

Maternity Grant

We will introduce a maternity grant of £150 for the first child born in every family and
of £75 for the births of each subsequent child;

Families in Work

We will add £5 per week to the family credit due to be introduced in April 1968 as a
replacement to family income supplement. These families will also gain from the extra child
benefit. Unlike the Conservatives we will retain at this stage free school meals and milk for
family credit recipients regardless of whether the families are in work or not; this will
ensure equal treatment with families dependent on benefits.

Families Out of Work

We will increase the family premium under the income support scheme by £5 per week and,
in this first phase, we will increase the net amount per child received by income support
families by £2 per child per week;

Single Parents

We will increase the single parent premium for income support recipients by £1.10 a week,
single parents will also benefit from the increased child benefit and, if their earnings are
low, from the extra £5 on family credit. If they are not in paid employment they will
benefit from higher family premium and the child additions.

Young People

The Conservatives' benefit changes include setting a new low personal allowance for unemployed
18-24 year olds with a higher Personal Allowance for single people 25 and over. We do not
support this discrimination based on age and we will abolish the 18-24 income support rate to
ensure that all single people receive the same amount of benefit;

Long-Term Unemployed

We will establish a new premium under the income support scheme for the long-term unemployed
without dependent children of £3.50 a week for a single person and £5 for a couple;

Social Fund

We will not place cash limits on the Social Fund and we will replace loans with grants. We will
establish clear criteria of eligibility for special payments and a right of independent appeal
and will ensure that the very poor receive extra money to cover heating costs;

Housing Benefit

We will not impose a 20% rates charge on those with very low incomes as the Conservatives plan
to do from April 1988. We will not implement the Conservatives' proposed cuts in the funding of
Housing Benefit.

The total gross cost of this immediate package over two years is £3.6 billion and the net
cost is £1.75 billion, which will be met from our planned expansion of the economy. Part
of the cost of the package will be met by changes to the tax system, and by starting to phase
in independent taxation for married women.

We will change the current personal tax allowances into a standard allowance worth the same
value for all taxpayers and will not uprate the Married Man's Tax Allowance. Pensioners',
Single Person's and Wife's Earned Income Allowances will continue to be uprated with inflation.
We will confine Mortgage Tax Relief to the basic rate of tax, so that all taxpayers benefit
equally from it at the same rate.

People With Disabilities

The biggest handicap faced by people with disabilities is the barriers put up by the rest of us
to their participation in society. The Alliance therefore supports measures which reduce the
physical and attitudinal obstacles faced by those with disabilities and which enable all to
enjoy as many as possible of the opportunities which are often taken for granted by the
able-bodied.

We believe that the majority of people with disabilities wish to live an independent life in
the community and in their own home. In support of this we will:

speed up the full implementation of the Disabled Persons Act 1986;

increase the income of people with disabilities who are dependent on
benefits by £3.50 per week and provide additional financial support through
our tax and benefit proposals;

ensure that 'care in the community', policies are properly co-ordinated and
funded, unlike the current situation which has been described by the Audit
Commission as resulting in "poor value for money and unnecessary
suffering";

tackle discrimination against disabled people through our proposed new Bill of
Rights and the Human Rights Commission;

support the voluntary organisations of and for disabled people and ensure that
they are properly consulted on matters which affect them;

ensure that the needs of disabled people are taken into account in housing,
public buildings and by public transport operators. We would expand support for
the specialised transport which can often be the key to independent living for
people with limited mobility;

improve the provision of education for those with special needs, in colleges
as well as fl schools, backed by a National Advisory Committee.

People Caring for Dependent Relatives

We will legislate through the Carers' Charter for carers' needs. We will replace Invalid Care
Allowance by a more generous Carers' Benefit.

We will seek to improve the position of people with disabilities in our society.

The Second Stage

The next stage will be to implement our structural changes to the tax and benefit systems. We
will replace income support and family credit by a new basic benefit for those in or out of
work. Basic benefit entitlement will be gradually reduced as income rises. Child benefit will
be payable to all alike, whether they are in or out of work.

We will introduce legislation to merge the tax and benefits systems, and employees' NICs with
income tax at a high threshold. These structural changes will not come into effect until the
second Parliament.

In the meantime we will continue to freeze the Married Man's Tax Allowance, and this extra
revenue will enable us further to improve benefits for families with children, people with
disabilities and carers.

Our Longer-Term Objectives

We will reform capital taxation to encourage wider distribution of gifts and legacies;

Wider tax relief for savings, including savings directly invested in small businesses, ending
the artificial distinction between income from earning and income from investment;

We would move towards an equal and flexible retirement age for men and women giving everyone
the right to retire at any age from 60 to 70, with a reduced pension for those retiring below
65 but protection for women currently approaching retirement at 60;

We will aim to restore the link between pensions and average earnings, broken by the present
Government, which will become more feasible if our plans to achieve growth while restraining
inflation are given the chance to succeed.

Education: The Essential Investment

We will increase investment in education and training by an additional £2 billion per
annum beyond that planned by the Conservatives by the fifth year.

Britain lags far behind our main industrial competitors in the proportion of our people who
receive higher education, further education and skill training. Basic research is seriously
underfunded. As a result, industry lacks the qualified and skilled people it needs, and
individuals are not given the chance to develop their potential.

We aim:

To widen access to education;

To raise standards in schools;

To increase research;

To provide more effective training and skills.

Our schools are in turmoil. The decision of the two largest teachers unions to conduct a
series of strikes in protest at the removal of their bargaining rights by the Teachers Pay and
Conditions Act, means another term of disrupted education for the children of England and
Wales, with especially serious consequences for those taking public examinations this summer.
Many of these pupils have suffered repeated disruption of their schooling over the past three
years; they are innocent victims of other people's actions.

To continue with the current Government's present policy, which would deny to the teachers
negotiating rights for the next three years, cannot create the mutual trust between the
teachers, the local education authorities and the Secretary of State that is essential to
improved morale in the profession. Without an improvement in morale, pledges of higher
standards are in vain; higher standards in the schools can only be achieved by a committed
self-respecting teaching profession.

The teachers unions have been divided among themselves on pay and conditions. That is why the
Alliance urged earlier this year in the House of Lords that an independent review body should
put forward recommendations as a basis for negotiation. That was done by the Main Committee in
Scotland; after an agreed settlement, disruption ceased in Scottish schools.

The Alliance believes that the Government should make it clear that teachers pay and conditions
would be imposed for the current settlement only; and that an independent review body would be
established to make proposals on teachers' pay and conditions as a basis of negotiation. We
understand and sympathise with the teachers' anger at the removal of their negotiating rights.
We would restore them. But the action by the teachers unions should cease. It does nothing to
achieve their aims. It is damaging pupils' education, is alienating public opinion and
undermining the standing of teachers in the community. It is in no-one's interest that it
continues.

Investing in Quality

A national programme for raising educational standardsThe Alliance TEN POINT PLAN

ENCOURAGING PROGRESS
We will require all schools, both maintained and independent, to publish
indicators showing progress in academic results related to intake and social
factors such as community involvement, truancy, and delinquency.

SETTING GOALS
We will ask each school to set targets for improvement - in the case of maintained
schools, in consultation with their local education authority.

ASSISTING IMPROVEMENT
We will institute 'special inspections' of all schools which regularly fall below a
certain level in terms of progress achieved.

REWARDING EXCELLENCE
We will institute an annual 'Queen's Award' for schools, to be judged by an
independent panel of experts, for outstanding progress, teaching and curriculum
innovation and success.

PROMOTING PROFESSIONALISM
We will establish 'teacher fellowships' as one year awards to outstanding
teachers.

SPREADING TECHNOLOGY
We will develop Information Technology Centres as resources of technological
expertise in collaboration with local colleges, polytechnics and universities and
computing.

ENRICHING EXPERIENCE
We will initiate a pilot project of summer schools, targeted on inner city
children, to enhance performance across the curriculum; we will approach
independent schools to participate and make their facilities available for these
summer schools.

BOOSTING NUMERACY
We will inaugurate a national numeracy campaign, backed by advertising and
television.

INVOLVING PARENTS
We will launch pilot projects for parental involvement in schools.

EMPOWERING PARENTS
We will establish a 'code of good practice' for local education authorities
including:

Parents having a voice on education committees;

LEAs publishing their policies on home/school links;

LEAs appointing an advisory officer with special responsibility for
developing a closer partnership with parents;

The training of parent governors.

The Alliance Plans

To create a united Department of Education, Training and Science, and put local
education authorities in charge of much of the local training work of the MSC;

To restore negotiating rights to teachers and to create a General Teaching
Council to enhance professional standards, which will also be supported by more
in-service training and appraisal to ensure that good teachers do not have to
leave the classroom to become administrators n order to achieve adequate rewards
and status;

To raise standards in schools through increased resources for books and
materials, doubling teacher training in shortage subjects such as maths, science
and computing, through special funds for innovation, through a stronger
Inspectorate and through a broad and balanced curriculum established by consensus
providing for a core range of subjects to be studied by all pupils but allowing
for local needs to be reflected and innovation to be tried.

To make available one year's pre-school educational experience for all
children;

To develop the potential of each young person by the wider use of profiles and
records of achievement, by discouraging early specialisation by reforming the
A-level examination so that it covers a wide range of subjects over the
arts-science divide, by positive action to encourage girls to take up subjects
previously dominated by boys, and by seeking to build on achievements rather
than merely penalising failure;

To enable schools to have full charge of their own budgets, as the Alliance
has done in Cambridgeshire, ensuring that a fully representative governing body is
accountable for making the most effective use of the available money;

To get rid of artificial divisions at 16 by taking steps towards a single
system of education and training allowances, replacing the present arrangements
which make YTS schemes more financially attractive than further study;

To develop tertiary colleges where local conditions are appropriate;

A crash programme to overcome skills shortages, with an expansion of training
and re-training facilities under the guidance of local education authorities,
giving representation to trainees in the management of schemes;

A training incentive scheme to encourage employers to increase their
commitment to training; companies spending above a certain quota on training
would receive a rebate;

To enable the long term unemployed to take up vacant places in further and
higher education courses without losing benefit, with the student able to leave
the course immediately a job becomes available;

To widen access to further and higher education by an immediate restoration of
benefits taken away by the Tories, plus a 15% phased real improvement in student
support.

To recognise that education is a life-long process, and that more people need
to return to it at different stages of life either to learn new skills or to
acquire basic skills; we will seek to make access to higher and further education
for mature students easier and to strengthen those institutions which are
specifically geared to their needs; the European Social Fund should be widened
to help in this area;

To guarantee a period of free further education based on Open University
levels of funding for everyone over 1 e to be taken at a time of their choice;

To restore confidence in our Universities, Polytechnics and Colleges by
according proper

recognition to their value and increasing so far as possible the resources
available to them, by expanding scientific research, which has been severely cut,
and widening access. We will increase the number of students by 20% over five
years as a step towards our goal of doubling the proportion of our young people
going in to higher education by the year 2000. The higher education sector would
have a major part to play in our crash programme to overcome skill shortages; we
intend to create a Higher Education Council to co-ordinate the planning of both
sectors of higher education; we support corporate status for Polytechnics but
oppose the Government's plans to bring them under national control;

Improved education provision for those with special needs, in colleges as well
as in schools, backed by a National Advisory Committee;

We recognise and would uphold the rights of those who wish to pay for
independent education in the private sector. We would phase out the Assisted
Places scheme without affecting pupils already in the scheme, so that money which
has been diverted from the state system can once again be used to raise the
standards in state schools. We believe that charitable tax reliefs in private
education should only go to genuinely philanthropic activities, and would review
the workings of charity law with that object in view. We will encourage greater
co-operation between state and independent schools.

An Alliance for Young People

The Alliance seeks to give young people the opportunity to shape their own lives and play a
full part in their community. Our policies are designed to provide a platform for young
people to speak out and to increase their financial independence.

We will build on the YTS to turn youth training into a fully comprehensive,
high quality vocational and educational programme for 16-19 year olds;

We will offer a job guarantee for our young people who have been unemployed
for over a year;

Our "Rent-a-Room" scheme will help satisfy the need, particularly
among single, young people, for rented accommodation and will make it easier for
them to travel to seek work;

We will abolish the 18-24 income support rate so that all single people will
receive the same rate of personal allowance;

We will review the duties of local authorities to house the homeless and in
the first instance will aim to give 16-18 year olds leaving local authority care,
a statutory right to be housed;

We will get rid of artificial divisions at 16 by taking steps towards a single
system of education and training allowances, replacing the present arrangements
which discourage young people from continuing in full time education;

We will restore student benefit entitlements, make a 15% phased real
improvement in student support, increase the number of full time equivalent
students by 140,000 (20%) in five years and double the number by the end of the
century;

We will reduce the age of candidature to eighteen to enable young people to
take a full part in local and central government.

Green Growth

There cannot be a healthy economy without a healthy environment.

We will take proper care of our environment.

Under an Alliance government every aspect of policy would be examined for its effect on our
environment, which we hold in trust for future generations.

We will ensure Britain takes the lead in promoting sustainable economic growth and investment
in new technologies designed to remove pollution and thereby create new job opportunities.

The Alliance will set up a new Department of Environmental Protection headed by a Cabinet
Minister who will be responsible for environmental management, planning, conservation and
pollution control, and promoting environmental policies throughout government. Among the
priorities of this department will be:

Powerful disincentives to polluters based on tougher penalties and
implementation of a polluter pays" principle for cleaning up the damage backed
by support for good practice;

The safest possible containment and disposal for industrial waste, with
recycling wherever feasible;

Clean Air legislation setting new standards, with tough measures to deal with
acid rain and an acceleration of the phasing out of lead in petrol;

Introducing a statutory duty for both private and public sector companies to
publish annual statements on the impact of their activities on the environment and
of the measures they have taken to prevent, to reduce and eliminate their
impact;

Protection of the green belt round our cities.

The Alliance is opposed to privatisation of the water authorities, which would hand over vital
environmental responsibilities affecting rivers, sewerage, water quality, pollution control
and fisheries to private hands. These functions should be restored to democratic control.

Energy and the Environment

We will institute an energy policy which meets the needs of industry and the domestic consumer
and has full regard to the environment. Britain is in a better position than many other
countries to do this because of the natural assets we have. Alliance energy policy avoids
dependence on any single source of supply and is based on:

More prudent use of our oil and gas resources so that they are not depleted
too quickly;

Continued modernisation and development of the coal industry, including new
coal-fired power stations with measures to prevent acid rain and more help to
areas affected by pit closures; the power to license coal mines would be
transferred from British Coal to the Department of Energy to prevent abuse of
monopoly;

Much more research and development work on renewable energy sources, including
wind, solar, wave and geothermal energy; we will vigorously pursue proposals for
tidal barrages such as those suggested for the Severn and the Mersey, subject to
taking the environmental impact into account;

Far more effort into energy efficiency and conservation, including higher
standards of insulation in homes and encouragement of Combined Heat and Power
schemes; nevertheless there will need to be a programme of replacement and
decommissioning for power stations which are reaching or have reached the end of
their design lives.

Existing capacity and planned coal-tired power stations are enough to meet our needs for some
time to come and we see no case for proceeding with a PWR at Sizewell or other nuclear power
stations at the present time. Safety must come first and after Chernobyl there is clearly a
need for a wider investigation into the safety of nuclear power, and there is also a need for
a thorough and independent review of the economics of nuclear power generation.

We will continue research into nuclear fission power including research into the fast breeder
reactor which may be needed if renewable resources prove to be less viable than we believe. We
remain committed to the Joint European Torus (Jet) nuclear fission project.

There is a serious problem concerning the disposal of nuclear waste, and further studies will
be commissioned to solve the problem as satisfactorily as possible. We do not believe that
this critical matter should be rushed and therefore advocate on-site storage until suitable
methods which have proved to be safe are available.

We would abide by the international convention (the London convention) which prohibits marine
dumping of nuclear waste.

The environment is under particular stress in two areas: the cities and the countryside. The
Alliance is determined to protect and improve the quality of life in both.

Improving the Quality of Life in the Inner Cities

Our cities are in danger of changing from having been centres of initiative and activity in the
past into industrial deserts, pessimistic about their future. The division and bitterness in
Britain that Conservative neglect in central government and Labour control in local government
have brought about are seen at their worst in our major cities.

Urban neighbourhoods need to be no less distinct and individual than rural communities but the
Labour and Conservative attitude has been to regard the city and particularly the inner city
as one huge problem area and as a battleground for the class struggle. Those who live there
know better and are appalled at the damage inflicted on the close, caring communities of the
past.

The Alliance believes that the strong city cannot survive without strong neighbourhoods. We
have confidence in the ability of those who live in the inner city to renew their own
communities, but they must be given the political and economic tools to do the job. Too many of
the people who serve the inner cities in professional jobs live in suburbs remote from local
problems.

Through a partnership of the public and private sectors we would invest in housing, schools
and the infrastructure to encourage those who work in the inner cities to live there.

We will make attractive residential accommodation available and closer to the city centre to
end the twilight ghettos that assist the mugger and the burglar.

We will support opportunities for local people to work in their own community, to establish
new businesses through local enterprise agencies and to train for needed skills.

The Alliance will use the Urban Programme to establish community centres, enhance voluntary
groups and assist tenants to manage their own estates.

We will promote the establishment of elected Neighbourhood Councils with statutory parish
status, where there is clear demand.

Genuine law and order depends on communities supporting the police in preventing crime and
being confident enough to end the anonymity on which criminal activity thrives.

Renewing our cities and enabling urban communities to develop a real sense of stability and
security is the only sound way of preventing and detecting crime.

Protecting and Enhancing Our Countryside

The Alliance seeks to provide better opportunities for those who live and work in the
countryside, to check decline and depopulation, (especially of young people), to support small
businesses and to encourage self-help solutions to rural problems.

Our agricultural policies are designed to allow farmland to remain in use rather than being set
aside. However, our planning strategy will allow for alternative land use which is in keeping
with, and makes a sensitive contribution to the local rural economy.

We will give strong support to the Development Commission and COSIRA, in their
efforts to promote local enterprise and to re-use existing buildings for these
purposes. In regions where Development Agencies are set up they will promote a
co-ordinated approach to the rural economy. Rural areas with severe economic
problems should be designated to receive aid from the European Community regional
fund;

We will encourage imaginative schemes to maintain essential facilities in the
countryside such as rural transport, village schools, call boxes and sub-post
offices, all of which have been threatened under the Conservatives; nationalised
industries and privatised monopolies such as British Telecom should be placed
under stronger obligations to recognise rural needs;

We will conserve our heritage of buildings;

National Parks, areas of outstanding natural beauty and green belts should be
fully protected, with those who live and work in these areas having a full,
democratic voice in planning policies and recognition given of the added problems
they face;

Forestry policy should place more emphasis on broad-leaved species, and larger
scale afforestation should be subject to a special system of planning controls;

We oppose the privatisation of the Forestry Commission.

Better Housing

Home Start

Owning a home of one's own is most people's dream but not everyone can afford the high cost of
taking the first step. We will open the door to home-ownership for thousands more the young
and the not-so-young - to enable them to cope with the initial problem, buying a home, when
their resources are most stretched.

We will build on and considerably improve the existing Capital Home Loan Scheme with a tax
credit of up to £1,000 for every new buyer. This will give first time buyers the benefit
of lower monthly repayments at the start of their mortgages.

All those eligible will have average incomes for the two previous years not exceeding
£20,000 (joint) or £10,000 (single). A ceiling will be worked out, region by
region, on the price of the home purchased, so as to exclude people rich enough to buy very
expensive homes. We estimate this will cost around £50 million per annum once the scheme
is fully underway.

We will abolish Stamp Duty on house purchases for everyone participating in "Home
Start". Stamp Duty now stands at 1% on purchases priced at above £30,000. Abolition
would be worth at least £300 and could in the south-east be worth £500 to a
first-time buyer.

We will take action to deal with homelessness and bad housing. Housing is a vivid example of
the Conservatives' cynicism. The Government decided the narrow rules restricting local
housing powers, cut back the capital sums available and is now blaming the local housing
authorities for the housing crisis such national decisions cause. In particular the
restriction of spending on housing to only 20% of the money coming to local authorities from
capital sales makes no financial or social sense. We will remove the restriction.

We will tackle the problem of homelessness;

We will give tenants more control over their environment and more choice;

We will provide more choices for private tenants;

We will give the elderly and disabled more opportunities to move to more
suitable housing or to adapt their present homes;

We will stop housing problems from restricting economic opportunities - it is
no use getting "on your bike" to find work if the only available jobs
are in places where there is no affordable housing accommodation;

We will require each housing authority to draw up a housing strategy to
determine what are the areas of need and how they can best be met working with
voluntary organisation, housing associations, building societies and the private
sector, as Alliance groups on local councils are already doing;

We will open up a new 'partnership' sector of rented housing funded by
building societies and institutions with a central government contribution to keep
rents at reasonable levels; these schemes would be run by their tenants as
co-operatives with the support of local councils and Housing Associations. In the
long run we want public support for housing costs to be even-handed between those
who rent and those who buy;

We will target our housing assistance on those who most need it. We will
promote mortgage schemes which can open up home ownership to a wider variety of
people, such as index-linked mortgages and shared ownership; we will improve the
availability of home improvement grants to homeowners to maintain the fabric of
their properties for the benefit of the whole community;

We will retain the right to buy. We also wish to give local authorities enough
discretion to deal with local housing shortages. Parliament must ensure that
limits are set on such discretion to ensure that it is not used to deny the right
to buy to tenants in general, and that anyone who is precluded from buying his or
her present home is given the opportunity to buy another property on comparable
terms through portable discounts;

We would restore to councils the right to spend the proceeds of council house
sales on replacing and repairing housing stock;

We will insist on higher design standards in public housing, more and greater
recognition of the contribution that good community architecture can make to the
quality of life and we want investment directed at improving existing properties
wherever justified rather than demolition;

We will incorporate rights for council tenants to control and improve their
houses in a statutory tenants' charter;

We will set up a national mobility scheme covering all sectors of housing;

Once more homes are available because of the Alliance's housing strategy, we
will extend the statutory duty of local authorities to provide for the homeless,
phasing in extensions to the 1977 act beginning with single people over 40 and
young aged 16-18 leaving care or who are otherwise homeless.

Rent-A-Room

There is a desperate need for rented accommodation, particularly for single people and
couples. There are millions of owner-occupied houses and council houses in Britain with spare
rooms.

Many are deterred from renting by the present rentals red tape. Another crucial factor is to
make it easier for people to travel to seek work. We will act to enable owner-occupiers and
council tenants wishing to let a room in their own home to do so more easily, and to their
financial advantage.

Rental income up to £60 per week will not be subject to income tax or capital gains tax.

We will legislate to invalidate clauses in mortgage contracts or local authority letting
contracts that prohibit such lettings.

Re-possession of such rooms will be made easier.

The "Rent-a-Room" scheme will be restricted to owner-occupier, council tenants, or
tenants of housing associations, letting a maximum of two rooms in their home.

The rent will be determined by the market, but only rental income up to a total of £60
per week will be disregarded by the Inland Revenue.

We will legislate to impose a duty on local authorities to issue and regularly review licences
to approved agencies, such as housing associations, housing aid centres, or commercial
agencies, in their area to operate the scheme. Such agencies will enter into contracts with
both landlord and tenant, and will be responsible to the landlord for ending any tenancy
arrangement within a fortnight. Court procedures will be speeded up to ensure that possession
in all genuine cases is obtainable in that time.

The "Rent-a-Room" scheme will benefit many people.

First, it will help single people and couples, particularly the young, and those moving in
order to get work to find suitable accommodation, where at the moment it is both scarce and
expensive.

Second, it will help owner-occupiers, including elderly people, to increase their income, to
assist with mortgage repayments or with the maintenance for their homes; it should help some
young families to be able to afford to become home owners for the first time.

Home Income Plan

For many elderly people their only capital is their home and they do not have a regular income.
Elderly home owners on low incomes, in fact, are becoming one of the most deprived sections of
the community. The proportion in low standard homes is double that of the population as a
whole and many others in good homes are short of spending money.

To enable Britain's elderly home owners to live more comfortable, independent and happier
lives we will introduce a tax-assisted Home Income Plan. It will significantly increase their
income or provide money for essential house expenses and repairs.

The Home Income Plan will enable them, if they choose, to unlock the capital value of their
homes to meet their need for more income now.

They will be able to take out a mortgage on part of the value of the house and use it to buy
an annuity providing regular income. The interest on the loan will be added to the capital sum
so that neither interest nor capital need be repaid during the borrower's lifetime.

Although several leading building societies and life assurance companies offer home income
plans at present, they are of limited value because the interest has to be paid gross after the
death of the borrower. Yet tax relief is allowed if the borrowers reduce their income by
repaying the interest during their lifetime. Neither method gives really fair value and so only
25,000 home income plans have been taken out.

We will make Home Income Plans a really worthwhile benefit for older people by allowing them to
postpone the interest payments and qualify for tax relief when the interest is finally repaid.
This could, on life assurance industry calculations give an 80% boost to the income of a woman
in her 70's.

Tax relief for pensioners aged 70 or over who take out Home Income Plans would cost less than
£40 million, assuming a 70% take-up. The cost would take time to build up and would not
be incurred all at once.

Transpot

We will maintain public transport.

Wider car ownership has improved the quality of life and enhanced the freedom of millions of
people, which we welcome; at the same time, transport policy has to deal with the problems of
congestion and road safety, which arise from busier roads, and has to ensure adequate public
transport for those who do not have access to a car, including many women, young people and the
elderly. While so many people have greater freedom of travel than ever before, significant
minorities now have significantly less opportunity to travel than previously, especially in
rural areas and some outlying housing estates.

The Alliance believes that:

Deregulation of bus services under the Conservatives was botched. Bus services
could only survive if they paid for themselves, leaving many elderly people and
single-parent families isolated in their own homes. The Alliance supports
comprehensive competitive tendering for a network of necessary bus services, with
local councils involved in planning and financing them. This combines greater
enterprise and new ideas with more care for deprived groups and areas. Local
councils and transport authorities should use their subsidy powers to ensure that
essential services are maintained and that public transport in cities is
attractive enough to reduce congestion resulting from commuting by car;

We will undertake a major renewal of road, rail and port infrastructure as part
of our programme of measures to tackle unemployment; we will build more by-passes
and a designated national heavy lorry network to get more of the vehicles out of
the towns, villages and residential areas;

We will support investment in our rail network both to encourage the transfer
of freight from road to rail and to ensure that the nations and regions of Britain
all share in the economic advantages of the Channel fixed link.

The Conservative Government has presided over a decline in our merchant fleet which threatens
our national economic and security interest. We would entrust the lead role in co-ordinating
maritime policy to a senior member of the Cabinet; and we would seek to help the industry
through the present crisis by positive financial support and a determination to ensure fair
play in world shipping markets.

Arts, Broadcasting and Recreation

We will ensure that people have the opportunity to enjoy the arts and physical recreation and
to develop their own potential through these activities. To help achieve this aim we will
double arts funding within the lifetime of one Parliament.

The Alliance will set up a unified Ministry, headed by a Cabinet Minister, to have
responsibility for the arts, broadcasting, films, publishing, leisure and recreation - these
activities are at present scattered amongst Ministries within which they are of minor
significance and are subject to control rather than enhancement;

We will further decentralise funding for the arts, channelling it through enhanced regional
arts associations and the Scottish and Welsh Arts Councils;

Wherever possible we will replace grants with endowment trusts providing greater stability and
independence for the arts with a mix of public and private funding;

We will co-operate with artists to achieve better deals through stronger copyright and public
lending right laws;

We regard the BBC World Service, the British Council and the provision of educational
facilities for overseas students as very effective cultural ambassadors and we will ensure
that increased funds are available to carry out that task;

We will secure the maximum access to sports facilities for the whole community.

Animals

We will strengthen the protection of animals.

A civilised society treats animals with care and compassion. An Alliance Government will
therefore set up an Animal Protection Commission which will considerably improve control over
the welfare of animals in laboratories, farms, zoos, slaughter houses and circuses, as well as
domestic and wild animals, and at a reduced cost, by unifying all existing Government
responsibilities in this field. The Commission will be given extensive powers to advise,
inspect and enforce legislation, and to review the effectiveness of existing legislation to
deal with cruelty, in particular police entry powers and the power of the courts. The
Commission will include fair representation from animal welfare organisations as well as
users.

Britain, Europe and the World

The Alliance will ensure that Britain's foreign and defence policies help to bring a fairer
and safer world. The things we want to achieve n our own country will not be possible unless
we co-operate with other countries to achieve a fairer and safer world. Our concern that
people should have basic human rights and a decent life cannot stop at the Channel. The huge
public support for famine relief, the vigorous public debates on peace and defence and the
public compassion for those suffering from oppression in many parts of the world refute the
narrow-minded view that world affairs are not an election issue in Britain.

Our Aims

The Alliance is firmly internationalist. Opportunities for international co-operation have
been thrown away by the Governments of the post-war years, when Britain needed to develop a
new role and new relationships in a changed world.

We see the future of the United Kingdom as being bound up with the future of the European
Community. As an enthusiastic and committed member of that Community Britain can significantly
influence political and economic decisions.

Britain is also a member of the Commonwealth and should be using that position to develop
concerted policies on eradicating hunger and on issues such as South Africa and Namibia, yet
Mrs. Thatcher has made such agreement impossible and treats respected Commonwealth leaders
with disdain.

Britain should take the lead in seeking international agreement on selective, targeted
sanctions, backed by help for the Front Line States, as a means of increasing the pressure for
an end to apartheid n South Africa.

Britain should have a sufficiently mature relationship with the United States for the British
Prime Minister to make clear where British foreign policy departs from that of the President
of the day. The British Prime Minister should disavow such ventures as the bombing of Libya
and support for the Contras, as so many Americans do, rather than allying with the most
conservative forces in the White House.

On defence and disarmament, Britain should be firmly committed to the achievement of
multilateral disarmament and firm in our acceptance of our responsibility towards collective
security through NATO: the Alliance rejects the one-sided approach which characterises both
the escalation of our present nuclear capacity through Trident and Labour's decision to remove
all nuclear weapons from British soil without securing the removal of those weapons which
could threaten us.

The Alliance believes that Britain should take a lead in seeking international efforts to
tackle the basic problems of the poorest countries of the world, particularly the burden of
debt which is crippling their efforts to feed their own people and the need to get a fairer
system of international trade which is not biased against the poorer countries.

Europe

The European Community must be the basis of a united Europe which has common policies on trade,
technology and social policy, and encourages Europe's scientific and industrial development. We
believe Labour's negative attitude to the European Community, and the obstructiveness of Mrs.
Thatcher's Government, not least in vetoing the proposed European Community programme for
co-ordinated research and development, is short-sighted and unconstructive. In a world of
super-powers, Europe has to speak with a united voice.

The Alliance would:

Ensure fair elections to the European Parliament by proportional
representation to give proper rights to the people of this country;

Seek reform of the Community's political institutions so that the bureaucracy
is properly accountable to the European Parliament, and that the Council of
Ministers shares power effectively with the Parliament;

Work for reform of the Common Agricultural Policy so that it no longer
dominates the Community budget, and to develop Community policies on regional
development, social and employment issues;

Support European initiatives to put effort and resources into developing
advanced technology; we would accept the negotiated European Community
co-ordinated research and development programme;

Make it easier for companies to sell throughout Europe;

Extend the common rights of citizenship in Europe.

Global Co-operation

An Alliance Government will:

Increase British support for the United Nations, develop its capacity for
peacekeeping, restore Britain's membership of UNESCO and increase British backing
for the UN agencies such as the High Commission for Refugees;

Develop Commonwealth and European co-operation on a wide range of issues,
including sanctions against South Africa designed to increase pressure for an end
to apartheid and peaceful change before war becomes inevitable; we are also
determined to end South Africa's illegal occupation of Namibia;

Increase efforts through international co-operation to deal with the threat
of terrorism.

Peace and Security

We will promote disarmament while maintaining sound defence.

Everything we prize most highly could be threatened by the destruction of our freedom through
armed intervention or threat, or by the destruction of a world which now contains a massive
arsenal of nuclear weapons. But at long last there is now an opportunity to halt the arms
race. The Alliance is determined to combine sound defence against any possible threat with
determined efforts to reduce and even remove the massive nuclear stockpile, which causes
increasing anxiety to the peoples of the world. New opportunities for arms agreements are
being opened up by the changed priorities of a new Soviet leadership: we cannot afford to
assume that this new and welcome trend in Moscow will continue unchecked, but at this delicate
and hopeful stage it is vital that we have a British Government determined to seize the
opportunity to drive sensible bargains on arms control which are secure because they are seen
on each side as being realistic. Britain cannot defend itself or the values of western
democracy alone, just as it cannot achieve international disarmament solely by its own actions:
both the other Parties have chosen in different ways to ignore the reality that our defence
and disarmament efforts are interdependent with those of other countries.

The Alliance is committed to NATO, and we accept the obligations of NATO, including the
presence of Allied bases and nuclear weapons on British soil on the basis of clear
arrangements for a British veto over their operations including where appropriate, dual-key
systems; we believe it is essential to strengthen the European contribution to NATO.

The Alliance welcomed the outline agreement discussed at Reykjavik to remove all intermediate
nuclear weapons from Europe, and Mr Gorbachev's later acceptance that such a deal should not
be linked to the future of the US Strategic Defence Initiative; The Alliance believes that
this must be only the first, vital step in a continuing process which will include both
shorter-range nuclear weapons and conventional forces.

The Alliance would withdraw UK support for President Reagan's Strategic Defence Initiative,
which clearly involves breaching the ABM Treaty, is destabilising and is likely to lead to
further escalation.

We will seek to revive negotiations on a Comprehensive Test Ban. In the meantime Britain
should itself ban nuclear weapons testing and should encourage the US to do likewise.

We would seek a battlefield-nuclear-weapon-free zone in Central Europe extending 150km in each
direction from the East-West divide.

We believe that NATO relies too heavily on nuclear weapons at all levels for deterrence. A
strengthened European pillar, involving effective defence co-operation and improved
conventional strength would better enable Western Europe to move towards the elimination of
dependence on first use of nuclear weapons. NATO should adopt strategies and weapons which are
more self-evidently defensive in intent and which are concerned with minimum deterrence.

We want to see a new initiative achieve Mutual and Balanced Force Reductions and we would be
prepared to include Britain's nuclear weapons in disarmament negotiations.

We would continue Britain's efforts to achieve a multilateral treaty prohibiting the
manufacture, development and possession of chemical weapons. In the meantime, we would oppose
any manufacture of fresh stocks of chemical or biological weapons.

In government we would maintain, with whatever necessary modernisation, our minimum nuclear
deterrent until it can be negotiated away, as part of a global arms negotiation process, in
return for worthwhile concessions by the USSR which would enhance British and European
security. In any such modernisation we would maintain our capability in the sense of freezing
our capacity at a level no greater than that of the Polaris system. We would cancel Trident
because of its excessive number of warheads and megatonnage, high cost and continued
dependence on US technology. We would assign our minimum deterrent to NATO and seek every
opportunity to improve European co-operation on procurement and strategic questions.

We would seek to reduce the flow of arms to areas of conflict and to ensure that arms from
Britain are not supplied to repressive regimes, particularly for their internal security
operations.

Shared Earth

The Alliance will:

Increase the share of Britain's GNP which goes in development aid, which has
gone down from 0.52% to 0.33% under the Conservatives, so that we reach the UN
target of 0.7% by the end of a five-year Parliament;

Concentrate aid on raising the living standards of the poorest through more
rural development, environmentally sustainable resource use, promotion of
self-sufficiency, recognition of the role of women, appropriate technology,
training and education, making full use of experience and expert voluntary
agencies;

Seek to increase awareness of development issues through more resources being
devoted to development education;

Change the situation in which many poor countries pay more in debt repayments
to rich countries than they receive in aid by seeking international agreement on
debt rescheduling and cancellation;

Combine the Aid-Trade Provision and the Overseas Development Administration's
"soft-loan" facility with the Overseas Projects division of the
Department of Trade and Industry and the Export Credit Guarantee Department into
one division of the DTI - help to British industry will no longer be taken from the
aid budget.

Conclusion

The Alliance came into being to achieve these things. From three sources came the political
ideas and momentum which are now carrying the Alliance forward. One was Liberalism, a long and
honoured political tradition from which we draw not only the philosophy of individual freedom
but also a record of achievement in the establishment of the modern welfare state and the
championing of local communities. The SDP combines a commitment to social justice and ending
poverty with a dynamic approach to wealth creation and its leaders have extensive experience
of government. A third element, which has ensured that the strength of the Alliance is
infinitely greater than the sum of its parts, is the support of those who have never before
been members of a political party, because no party seemed to offer them the chance to realise
their aims. Their numbers continue to grow.

The Alliance is therefore different. It involves two political parties working together, and
taking along with them the great mass of people who are dissatisfied with the politics of
recent years, the kind of politics which is so dismally displayed in the shouting match of the
House of Commons at Prime Minister's Question Time. All political parties involve compromises
between different views and different strands of opinion - the Labour and Conservative parties
each embrace an enormously wide range of opinion. But for them the spirit of compromise, if it
operates at all, has to be concealed, kept within the party and denied in public. We make no
secret of the fact that our programme draws on the ideas of our two parties and that we are
keen to work together to achieve shared goals. Like the others we seek to put our entire
programme forward for endorsement and to form a majority Alliance Government, but unlike the
others the whole approach of the Alliance underlines our belief that if we are in a balanced
Parliament we must heed the message of the voters and work with the other parties to seek an
agreed programme which commands the widest possible support.

The Alliance is different also because it is not the voice of any one section or interest. It
is not paid for and controlled by the trade union movement, as is the Labour party, and it
does not have the massive dependence which the Conservatives have on the City and big
business. These links make each of the other parties powerless to reform their own
institutional backers and incapable of understanding or winning the confidence of their
institutional opponents. The Alliance has a capacity to be fair which is based on its
independence and on the breadth of its support, typified by the fact that we have been able to
win by-elections in the heart of the countryside in a former Conservative stronghold in
Ryedale and in a former Labour stronghold in Greenwich, both seats now held by Liberal and SDP
women MPs.

The Alliance is different in another respect. It is not merely seeking to become the elected
government of the country, but to overhaul the system of government so that all future
governments, of whatever party, are based on real public consent and full participation in an
open society. Our intention is not simply to get into the driving seat but to re-design the
vehicle. Once the Alliance has reformed the voting system, no future government will be
awarded the power of a majority without the support of a majority of the people, and no kind
of extremism, whether of the left or of the right, will be able to get in through the back
door. Not only that - if we find ourselves exercising power in a Parliament with no overall
majority, we guarantee that we will use that power to block extremism and to fight for the
kind of reforms which make sure that governments cannot push people around and individuals
have the opportunity and the means to achieve their full potential.

The Alliance is different too, in its belief about the nature of society. Our aim is a
civilised society in which individual freedom goes hand-in-hand with care for others.
Individual freedom is central to our beliefs, but if it is not accompanied by social
responsibility it becomes freedom only far those who can afford it, or the survival of the
fittest. But when society as a whole tries to meet human needs it must respect individual
choice and be aware of the dangers and limitations of state provision, otherwise there will be
no freedom, and public services will be both inhuman and inefficient. Declining public services
and the inhuman scale of organisations like the DHSS and the big council housing departments
have contributed to a widespread feeling of apathy and despair, and many young people in
particular feel that this society has no place for them and does not want to listen to them.
Government must work in partnership with people, enabling them to use their own organisations,
their own local communities and their own skills, and giving them effective democratic control
over those services which can only be provided by the community as a whole. Our society is one
that recognises that the arts are not an optional extra, to be grudgingly afforded when the
economy is booming, but play an essential part in meeting the wider needs of individuals and
in broadening the vision of communities. Our aim is a society in which values other than the
purely economic are recognised and valued. Our society is one that recognises the importance
of the environment in which we live - even those who are successful do not want to live in a
shoddy society whose values are dominated by greed and selfishness. We recognise the crucial
need to live in harmony with our environment and we will support those developments in our
industrial and social activities which are environmentally enhancing and benign. We aim to join
the nations which lead the field in environmental protection instead of trailing amongst the
last.

The Alliance is also different in being concerned about both unemployment and inflation. The
Conservative Party concentrates all its attention on inflation and ignores unemployment and its
consequences. The Labour Party concentrates all its attention on unemployment and ignores the
fact that increased inflation undermines expansion and inevitably puts brakes on efforts to
get people back to work. We must have sustainable growth. That is why our proposals for
expanding the economy are accompanied by plans for an incomes strategy and for a firm monetary
and exchange rate discipline through entry to the exchange rate mechanism of the European
Monetary System. But in the long term we will only succeed if we give the top priority to
industry. The service and manufacturing sectors of industry are mutually dependent, but
manufacturing industry has been devastated in recent years. We believe it is the engine of
growth and our competitors in Japan, in Germany and in the US demonstrate that only too well.

Much of what the Alliance wants to do to ensure basic standards in the public services and to
encourage people to find new ways of caring for one another depend on achieving success through
our economic and industrial policies, which are designed to enable us to achieve greater
prosperity. Some of what we want to do will have to wait until we have earned the resources
with which to do it. We are not prepared to enter an electoral auction seeing who can make the
largest bids to spend money which is not there and will not be there unless taxes and borrowing
are increased to unreasonable and imprudent levels. Investment in industry and particularly in
new and high technology industry is the key to creating the wealth we all want. We deplore the
way in which windfall benefits such as oil revenues and the proceeds from privatisation have
been frittered away instead of being used to enhance the basic fabric of our society.

The other parties know that the Alliance is different, and they fear it, even to the extent of
burying their own fundamental disagreements with each other so as to co-operate against us. In
the House of Commons they have voted together against electoral reform, and against some of the
measures designed to put trades unions fully under the control of their members. They work with
each other in an attempt to preserve the appearance of a two-party system long after it is
dead: Conservatives carefully protect Labour's privileges in the House of Commons to ensure
that latterly only Labour and Conservative working peers have been appointed to the Lords, in
vain hope of silencing the Alliance voice. We do not rule out the possibility that after the
next election there could be an informal "Lab-Con pact" to keep the Alliance out, as
there has been on several local councils: it would be the old parties way of attempting to
stagger on as if nothing had happened after the two-party system had suffered a shattering
defeat. Indeed we believe that Labour and Conservative supporters should now be asking their
candidates "In a balanced Parliament will you work with the Alliance or with our
traditional opponents?"

That is why our prime aim is an Alliance majority government, an aim that can certainly be
realised at this election. Indeed, such are the absurdities of the voting system that quite
small increases in Alliance support can make the difference between fifty Alliance seats and
three hundred. If we get that majority we will at once set out to reform the system which
produced it. Our commitment to fair elections is clear. We are the only political grouping
who, if given a majority, would use that majority power forthwith to reform the system under
which we gained it. But we will also be able to get on with the job of bringing down
unemployment while managing the economy on a sound basis so as to prevent inflation from
increasing dramatically again. We will be able to embark on immediate improvements in basic
services like education and health, while we open the way to the longer-term proposals in
these and other fields which will give people more chance to realise their full potential and
build a caring community. We will be able through our tax and benefit proposals to improve the
lot of those who now find themselves on or near the poverty line. We will be able to make the
conservation of the environment a priority of government, and pay special attention to the
needs of cities and countryside. We will be able to house many of the homeless through more
imaginative housing policies involving partnership between public and private housing. We will
pursue policies on defence and foreign affairs which will make Britain a force for good in the
world, recognising our interdependence with other nations.

All this is possible, and our Joint Programme sets out the main steps we will take. These aims
and values are also a clear guide to the way we would use the power we had if no party had an
overall majority. We would insist that the views of the substantial section of the electorate
who had voted for us went into the process by which the programme of a new government was
decided. If other parties seek to cheat the electorate of that right, we shall seek to bring
the matter back before the voters as soon as possible. We are not prepared to see the views of
so many voters ignored any longer.

Alongside this Programme for Government the Alliance is publishing manifestos for Scotland and
Wales, setting out our policies on those issues which we believe should be dealt with by
devolved power.

An Election of Opportunity

We believe that our priorities are right, that our proposals are practical and that our values
are those which are most urgently needed in the government of this country. We make no claim
to have a monopoly on good ideas. We seek from the voters the chance to give back to them the
power and the opportunities which are rightly theirs. Their time has come.

Liberal / SDP / Libdem Manifestos

This is an unofficial site. We are not connected in any way to the Libdems.
Anyone seeking the official site of the UK's Liberal Democrats should go towww.libdems.org.uk